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Isaiah Brophy

Isaiah Brophy (1826-1880) was an Irish-Australian former convict laborer and hired gun in the service of the powerful landowner Elliott Marston during the late 19th century.

Biography[]

Isaiah Brophy was born in Ireland in 1826, and he was later transported to Australia as a convict laborer for crimes committed in the United Kingdom. Once emancipated, Brophy was employed as a hired gun by the landowner Elliott Marston at the Marston Waters ranch in Western Australia, and, in 1880, he, Jerome Coogan, and Connor Hobb were sent to pick up the American mercenary Matthew Quigley at the docks of Fremantle and take him to the ranch to meet their boss. However, the three men got into a street fight with Quigley after he prevented them from kidnapping another American, "Crazy Cora", for use as an involuntary prostitute; it was only after Quigley told Cora (who repeatedly called him "Roy") his name that the three Irishmen realized who they had been fighting with. They proceeded to bring Quigley, Cora, and the prostitutes Karen Slattern and Kylie Davitt with them on a wagon through the Outback and to Marston Waters, having a tense run-in with the British Army Major Ashley Pitt along the way.

On the night of the group's arrival, Quigley threw Marston out of his own house after becoming disgusted and infuriated with Marston's attempt to hire him to commit genocide against the Aborigines, leading to Marston's men capturing and severely beating Quigley and abandoning Quigley and Cora in the Outback without food or water. However, Quigley and Cora later resurfaced and evaded Marston's attempts to recapture them, killing several of his henchmen in the process. Brophy and Tony Dobkin were among Marston's last three henchmen by the time that Quigley came to Marston's ranch to confront him, and Quigley lured the two of them into a chase outside of the ranch. Dobkin ordered Brophy to outflank Quigley as he provided covering fire, but Quigley shot a rope tied to a branch, causing a landslide; Brophy was killed by a rolling tree trunk.

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